


Be A Doll

by thewritierpen



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Bondage, Disturbing Themes, F/M, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape/Non-con Elements, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:15:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23235331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewritierpen/pseuds/thewritierpen
Summary: The BAU’s latest case involves a serial kidnapper who definitely has a type — his victims are all young, white women with curly, red hair.  The BAU’s newest recruit, Avery Alton, fits the description exactly.  In an effort to catch the unsub, she offers herself up as bait, but things don’t exactly go according to plan.
Kudos: 13





	1. The Case

Sacramento, California. Five missing women. All caucasian with pale skin and long, curly, red hair; petite; slim; college-educated; between the ages of 20-30. This unsub definitely had a type. But he was good. Really good. The women had all disappeared without a trace, a few days in between each disappearance. He left no tracks to follow. That’s why the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit was brought in. With minimal physical evidence, the only clues to go off of were in the unsub’s behavior.

Avery Alton — the BAU’s newest recruit, a recent graduate of a master’s degree program in criminal psychology — found this case particularly unsettling. It was only her fifth case with the BAU, so she was fairly nervous in general. But this case hit especially close to home, as she fit the unsub’s type exactly. The missing women were almost mirror images of her. She knew that as an FBI agent she was extremely unlikely to become a victim of this unsub. But still, she saw herself in these women. When she interviewed their devastated, desperate families, she couldn’t help but imagine what her own family would go through if the same thing happened to her. Her parents, her three younger sisters. They would be completely crushed.

Avery shuddered and shook herself out of her thoughts. She needed to focus on the case.

The team had just finished interviewing the parents of Maribelle Bryceland, the most recent victim. She had disappeared while going for a run in the woods of the local park earlier that morning. Maribelle was 22 years old, a recent college graduate living at home with her parents while searching for a full-time job. She had been on her college’s track and field team, and she ran every morning. Her parents had been concerned about her running alone, what with the several recent disappearances. Maribelle was allowed to run as long as she had her cell phone, pepper spray, and a running companion. Maribelle had been running with her friend Eliza when she disappeared. Eliza had fallen behind and paused to catch her breath as Maribelle rounded the bend in the trail in front of her. Eliza was just a moment or two behind her; yet when she rounded the same bend, Maribelle was simply gone. The team had interviewed Eliza prior to speaking with Maribelle’s parents. The three of them were wrecks, sobbing, begging the team to find the missing girl.

Now the team was on their way to survey the site of Maribelle’s disappearance. It was in the local park which was typically busy with members of the community walking their dogs, going for runs, and playing with their kids. But the running trail went in and out of the trees, and the disappearance site was along the most isolated section of the trail, the farthest point into the woods.

The unsub must have chosen the spot for that exact reason. He seemed to have planned his kidnappings meticulously, with a very high level of organization.

The team surveyed the scene, but as usual, there was minimal physical evidence. This man left very few clues.

———————————————

The team spent the next five days tracking down leads that turned out to be dead-ends. Avery was desperate to find this man and bring him to justice, before any other young women were taken, before any more families were devastated. It was that desperation that led to her decision.

“Guys?” she said, tentatively, as the team was sitting, frustrated, going over the details of the case again and again. “I have an idea. It’s a bit risky, but I think it could work. We all know that I fit the profile for the unsub’s victims—”

“No,” Gideon interrupted her immediately. “Absolutely not.”

“Why not?” Avery asked. “We all know that he goes after young women who look exactly like me. I’d be the perfect bait.”

“It’s far too risky,” Gideon said. “You’re too new. You don’t have enough experience.”

“Gideon,” Avery protested, “You guys will have my back. You’ll be with me the whole time. Besides, what other option do we have? Can you think of a better plan?”

Gideon hesitated. “I don't like it,” he said, “but I suppose you’re right. We’ve hit too many dead ends. This might be our only option. But we will take every precaution!”

“Of course,” Avery said. “I know you will. I trust you guys.”

And so it was decided.


	2. The Plan

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Gideon asked. “We would all understand if you don’t feel comfortable—”

“I’m sure,” Avery said, firmly. “I want to catch this son of a bitch, Gideon.”

Gideon stared at her for a moment and then, seemingly satisfied with the light of determination in her eyes, he nodded. “Okay. Remember, we’ll have eyes and ears on you the whole time.”

Avery nodded. The unsub seemed to be making his way farther west with each kidnapping. Based on that and his profile, they expected his next location of choice to be somewhere in a series of hiking trails west of the park where Maribelle disappeared. The plan was for Avery to walk along the trails, seemingly alone, with the BAU team and local police officers hidden in the nearby woods, each covering a section of the trails. Everyone, including Avery, would be wearing an earpiece so that they could all hear each other.

The kidnappings had all occurred early in the morning, after sunrise but before 8:00 AM. It was almost dawn. Gideon nodded to Avery and then left to lead the surveillance team to get into position in the woods, leaving only Reid by Avery’s side. The team did not want to leave Avery alone until she was at the trail head, where the surveillance team would have eyes on her. They decided that Reid looked the least like an agent or officer, so he would wear everyday clothing and drop her off at the trailhead slightly after dawn. For now, Avery and Reid just had to wait while the team got into position.

Reid looked at Avery, who was dressed in workout clothes and hiking boots. “Are you okay?” he asked. “I know this must be pretty nerve-wracking.”

Avery smiled at him nervously. She had been so sure of her plan, so confident in herself, when she had suggested it. But now that it came time to actually put herself in danger, she was starting to feel pretty scared.

“I’m a bit nervous,” she said, downplaying her fear, “but I know you and the team will have my back.”

Reid put his arm around her reassuringly. “Of course we will.”

Avery blushed and leaned into him. She had a bit of a crush on Reid. She was charmed by his genius-level intelligence, his ability to recall information as though he was reading from an encyclopedia. She loved his long, brown hair; his nerdy style; the way he looked when he wore his glasses. She was happy to have a chance to be so close to him. It was a nice distraction and helped to calm her fears. She gave him a shy, but genuine, smile. “Thanks, Spencer.”

He looked down at her and smiled back. She felt her heart skip a beat.

Spencer looked at his watch. “Looks like it’s almost time,” he said, removing his arm from her shoulders, to her disappointment. “Are you ready?”

“I’m ready,” she nodded determinedly.

———————————————

He brought her to the trailhead. “Have a nice hike. I’ll see you afterwards,” he said, loudly enough for anyone nearby to hear. Then he hugged her. “Good luck,” he whispered in her ear. “Remember, we’ll be with you the whole time. Just call out if you need us.”

“Thanks, Spencer,” she whispered back. He pulled away and she turned to the trail. She took a breath and then started walking.

———————————————

Avery hiked along the trail. She knew that the team was out there keeping an eye on her, but she felt so alone. Knowing that she could be grabbed at any moment by a madman, her nerves were completely on edge. But she was trying her hardest to look nonchalant. The longer time went on, the more nervous she became. She had hiked for forty minutes so far, but it seemed like hours.

She noticed that her hiking boot was coming untied, so she stopped and knelt down to redo the laces. Suddenly she felt something hit her head hard, and everything went black.

———————————————

Morgan was patrolling his section of the trail, quietly walking off to the side in the woods, parallel to the path, when he came across the unconscious form of one of the local police officers. The officer was lying facedown, blood running from a wound on the back of his head. Morgan gasped. “Gideon!” he cried, touching his earpiece. “An officer is down!” Morgan touched two fingers to the officer’s neck, relieved to feel a pulse. “He’s alive, but unconscious. Head wound. Who has eyes on Alton?”

“Does anyone have eyes on Alton?!” Gideon repeated forcefully. Nobody did.


	3. The Unsub

Avery woke up to a throbbing pain in her head. She groaned. She tried to touch her head, but was confused to find that something stopped the motion of her arm. She groggily opened her eyes to find that she was bound to a queen-sized bed in an otherwise bare, unfamiliar room with one window. She was lying on her back, still in her workout clothing, but her hiking boots were no longer on her feet. Her hands were tied together, above her head, to the headboard. Her feet were tied apart, to the corners of the footboard. There was a cloth stuffed in her mouth, and another secured around her face, between her teeth, and tied around the back of her head to keep the first cloth in place. She gasped, half-choking, terrified, as her memories came rushing back to her. The case. The kidnappings. Hiking through the woods. The blow to her head. In a panic, she struggled against her bonds, tugging and pulling against the ropes to no avail.

“There is no need to be afraid,” a man’s voice said calmly, as he stepped into the room. He was caucasian, tall, with dark brown hair and piercing blue eyes. He looked to be in his mid- to late thirties. She was surprised to see that he was good-looking. Then she remembered that they had profiled the unsub as handsome and sociable, as he was able to lure so many women away even though they knew there was a kidnapper on the loose.

“Where am I?” she tried to ask, forgetting momentarily about the gag in her mouth. Her question came out as an incomprehensible noise.

“Shhh…” he whispered. “You are safe now. You are home.” He walked to the side of the bed and gently caressed the side of her face. She jerked her head away in fear.

“I am going to remove this,” he said, reaching behind her head to untie the gag. “I would prefer that you do not scream, as it would hurt my ears. But even if you do scream, there is nobody around to hear you.”

Avery felt a cold pit in her stomach at his words. As soon as the gag was out of her mouth, she began screaming. “HELP! SOMEBODY HELP! PLEASE! HELP ME!”

The man walked out of the room. Avery screamed and struggled for a while until she tired herself out, at which point the unsub came back into the room.

“I am glad that unpleasantness is out of the way,” he said calmly, walking back over to the bed.

Avery, panting, exploded, “Where am I?! Who are you?! Why are you doing this to me?! Let me go!”

The man smiled at her, which sent a chill down her spine. “Why, I am your owner. I am going to take such good care of you, my doll.”

He caressed her face again, and she jerked her head away and grimaced.

“What did you do with the other girls?” she asked, hesitantly. “What are you going to do to me?”

“Oh, my other dolls,” he said, gleefully. “They are so beautiful. I have been adding to my collection. It is so wonderful. I will have to show you.”

He walked over to the foot of the bed and, to Avery’s surprise, began to untie her feet from the footboard. As soon as one of her feet was untied, she kicked out at his head, but missed as he pulled back. He grabbed her ankle, held it to the bed, and said, “None of that, now. If you misbehave, you will be punished. I do not want to cause any marks on that beautiful skin of yours, but I will if you force me to.”

Avery went pale in fear. The man let go of her ankle and she did not try to kick him again. He untied her other foot, and then he walked over to the headboard. He untied her wrists from the headboard, but kept them bound to each other. He maintained his grip on her wrists, pulling her to sit up. “Walk with me,” he said, with a smile.

As soon as Avery stood up, she attacked him, hoping to surprise him and disarm him enough to get away from him and find a way out. The window could work, she thought, or there must be a door somewhere leading outside. But her movement was limited by her bonds, and he had all the advantage of size and weight. He quickly overpowered her and slammed her against the wall, wrapping his hand around her throat and squeezing until she could no longer draw breath.

“I told you that I do not want to bruise you,” he said, still calm, as she tried and failed to gasp for air. “Will you be a good doll and stop making me hurt you?” She nodded desperately, and he released his grip on her throat. She gasped and coughed and panted, forcing air back into her lungs. He grabbed her by the upper arm and forced her to walk beside him.

“I want to show you my other dolls,” he said, excitedly, pulling her through the doorway and into the next room.

She cried out in horror at the sight of the room. There was an old-looking couch, two worn armchairs, a scuffed wooden coffee table, and a plain wooden dining table with four wooden chairs around it. The reason for Avery’s horror, though, was because the room held five corpses that looked exactly like her — the five missing women. They were all dead, right before her eyes. Horrifyingly, they were dressed up and made up and posed — like dolls, Avery thought, remembering the man’s use of the word. Their hair was perfectly curled and in place, they wore pink blush and red lipstick, and their dresses were frilly and lacy and old-fashioned. Their eyes were the worst part. Wide open, seemingly staring at her with their dead gazes.

While she screamed, Avery pulled against the man’s grip, but he was too strong. She couldn’t get away. Avery realized that she would become the sixth member of his collection if she didn’t find a way out of here. She wondered desperately where her BAU team was. They must be looking for her. They had to be on their way here, right now, to rescue her. If she couldn’t find a way out of here by herself, they were her only hope.

Avery tried not to look at the corpses of the ill-fated young women while the man dragged her across the room to the kitchen. He sat her on a stool in front of one of the kitchen counters and tied her wrists to a metal ring attached to the countertop. When he looked away, she tugged against it, but it was solid.

“I will get you something to eat. I need to take care of my doll,” the man said, opening the fridge. He pulled out a small bowl of strawberries and set it on the counter in front of her. He picked one up and held it in front of her face. With her wrists tied down to the countertop, he clearly expected her to eat it out of his hand. She stared at it. Now that she thought about it, she was actually pretty hungry — she briefly wondered how long she had been unconscious — but she was worried that he may have tampered with the food. He held it in front of her for a moment longer, and then he seemed to realize her train of thought. “Oh, my doll, there is no need to worry. This is not punishment; it is nourishment.” He took a bite of the berry to prove that it was not poisoned, and he held it back in front of her face.

Avery was hungry and afraid of angering him, so she ate the rest of the berry. He fed her the remaining berries, and then he untied her wrists from the countertop, leaving them tied together. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back into the bedroom. Avery closed her eyes as they walked through the living room, so that she wouldn’t have to see those poor girls’ corpses again.

The man sat her down on the bed and tried to get her to lie down on her back again. Terrified at the thought of being tied to the bed again, she cried, “Wait!”

He paused and looked at her. “What is it, my doll?”

“Um, I have to use the bathroom.”

“Oh, of course, my doll. Right this way.”

He grabbed her arm and led her to another door within the bedroom. He opened it to reveal a small bathroom with a toilet, sink, and shower. Avery noted that there was a small window on one of the walls. She was hoping to slip out of it, but to her dismay, the man would not allow her to close the door. She felt humiliated while he watched her urinate and then wash her hands as well as she could with her wrists tied. She looked at herself in the mirror and winced at the sight of the angry, reddish-purple marks on her neck and the considerable amount of dried blood in her hair.

She turned to him in the doorway, knowing that he probably wouldn’t allow her to stall much longer. Deciding to be direct, she said quietly, “Please don’t tie me down again. I’ll be good; I promise.”

“I am sorry, doll,” he refused, “but I need to keep you still.”

He grabbed at her arm again, but she was quicker than him. She kicked him in the stomach, hard, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to fall backwards onto the floor. She sprinted out to the living room and fumbled at the front door, before pulling it open. She felt the sun and breeze on her face and felt a surge of hope as she sprinted away. There was nothing around her. Only grass and woods. She headed for the latter, hoping to lose him and find a hiding spot amongst the trees. Her speed was hindered by her tied wrists and her lack of shoes — the sticks and stones and brambles were cutting into her feet. Just after she entered the tree line, she was tackled to the ground.

“Oof!”

She gasped for air and tried to push the man off of her, but he was too large and strong. He wrapped his arms around her torso from behind her, pinning her arms down underneath his. He picked her up off the ground and headed back to the cabin. She screamed and thrashed and kicked, and she managed to get a few solid kicks to his legs. But it wasn’t enough to stop him. He carried her back into the bedroom and forced her down onto her back on the bed. He straddled her, using his weight to trap her as he yanked her hands over her head and tied them back to the headboard while she struggled futilely.

“You have been a very bad doll,” he said with annoyance. “Bad dolls must be punished.”

He backhanded her hard across the face. She cried out in pain as she felt the impact to her cheek, jaw, and mouth. The skin at the side of her bottom lip broke and she tasted blood. The surprise and pain stunned her and she stopped struggling against him.

He scooted down to straddle her legs and tied them to the corners of the footboard.

He turned back to her and grabbed her throat again. He squeezed her windpipe shut and she struggled to breathe but was unable to do so. He held on until she started to get dizzy and her vision started to turn black around the edges. She thought he might kill her right then and there. But as soon as her head dropped back and her eyes started to close, he let go. She gasped for air, choking and coughing, tears streaming down her face.

“Doll, why do you keep making me do this to you?” he asked disappointedly. “Why can’t you be a good doll like the others? Will you be a good doll for me?”

She was coughing too hard to reply, but she nodded vigorously. She realized how dangerous it was to defy this man. She would have to choose her actions very carefully going forward.

He seemed satisfied with her response, seeming to cheer up again. “I cannot wait to show you what we are going to do next,” he said with a smile. “It is playtime, my doll.”


	4. Playtime

A chill went down Avery’s spine. That did not sound good. Not at all. It could mean a lot of different things, but definitely nothing good. She laid there, terrified, waiting for him to elaborate.

The man grabbed the cloths that were previously used to gag her and he brought them back up to her mouth.

“No, please!” she pleaded. “Not again! Please don’t!”

But he grabbed her face, shoved one cloth into her mouth, and tied the other one around the back of her head, gagging her. She made some incomprehensible pleading noises.

He pulled out a knife and she began screaming, slightly muffled by the gag. He used the knife to cut her clothing off of her until she was stark naked.

Avery was screaming and shaking, terrified, but there was nothing she could do to stop him.

The man looked fondly upon her nude form, lifting one of his hands to stroke up and down her body, paying extra attention to her breasts. She shuddered in horror at his touch. She glanced down and saw a bulge growing in the crotch of his pants. Tears started forming in her eyes as she fully realized what was about to happen.

The man removed his pants and underwear, revealing his penis, which was growing rapidly into the largest one she had ever seen. She had been with several men before, but none of them had come even close to this man’s size. She was disgusted and terrified — she wasn’t sure if it would even fit. She desperately wished that it were smaller.

He laid down atop her body and lined himself up with her entrance. She cried out in pain as he forced his way into her canal.

“Oh, doll, you feel exquisite,” he moaned, beginning to thrust in and out of her slowly. “Yes, you are my beautiful doll! You are my perfect porcelain doll!”

Avery sobbed in pain and horror and disgust as the man picked up speed. His moans increased in frequency and volume, and she could feel his rhythm start to become erratic. She braced herself for what she knew was coming.

The man let out an especially loud and long moan, and he buried his face in her neck. She felt him come apart inside her. She felt the spurts of warm liquid hitting her inner walls. She sobbed from the pain and humiliation and revulsion, and she worried about pregnancy and STIs — who knew what effect this would have on her body — but a part of her was just relieved that it was almost over.

He laid on top of her, panting, for a few moments and then leaned up and slowly pulled himself out of her. When his penis finally popped out, she felt a rush of liquid leave her and trickle down her crotch to the bed. She was revolted at the thought of lying in a pool of this monstrous man’s semen.

He caressed her and showered her with compliments about what a good doll she was, and she thought that she might vomit. After a while he left her there to cry herself to sleep.


	5. The Next Day

Avery woke up to the smell of breakfast cooking. She was still tied down to the bed, with the gag securely in place. She felt like shit. Her face and jaw were sore, her mouth was parched, her throat and wrists and ankles hurt, she was ravenous, and her vagina was aching with pain. She groaned.

Shortly afterwards, the man came in with a tray of food. He took out her gag and fed her water, scrambled eggs, and bacon. She was too hungry to care about the possibility of him tampering with the food. Plus, she figured that if the strawberries were safe yesterday, then she would probably be fine today.

When she finished her meal, the man took the plate, cup, and silverware to the kitchen before coming back into the bedroom and sitting on the edge of the bed. He smiled at her. “Doll, I cannot wait for our activity this morning. I am going to show you your true self. We will begin your transformation today,” he said excitedly.

Avery’s blood ran cold. She wondered if that meant that he was going to kill her, like he did to the other girls.

The man pulled out a pouch and opened it to reveal a makeup kit. He pulled out a pink powder and a brush. He swirled the brush in the powder and brought it up to her face. When she jerked her head away, he grabbed her by the hair with his free hand to keep her still. He began to sweep the blush onto her cheeks. She grimaced, thinking that the last face the brush had touched was the face of a corpse. The man then pulled out a red lipstick and brought it to her mouth, swiping it onto her lips. She was repulsed at the thought of sharing a lipstick with the dead girls.

“You are so beautiful, my doll,” he said. “My lovely doll.”

He stood up and untied her feet from the footboard. Then he untied her wrists from the headboard, leaving them bound together. He pulled her up and she groaned, stretching her sore, stiff muscles. He dragged her into the living room and she fought back a wave of nausea upon seeing the five corpses again. He pulled her into the center of the room and looked up at the ceiling. She noticed a large hook extended from the ceiling, and he pulled her arms up and tied her wrists to it so that she had to balance on her tiptoes to avoid putting her whole body weight on her sore wrists.

The man brought out a pair of six-inch heels, higher than any she had worn before. They were white and almost Mary Jane style, but the straps extended to criss-cross up her legs a few times. He forced her to balance precariously while he strapped them, one at a time, to her feet. Once both shoes were secured to her feet, she was relieved that her arms had slightly more freedom now that she was higher up.

The man stepped back to look at her and groaned at the sight of her. Avery saw his pants begin to tent and she grew pale with fear.

“No, please,” she begged. “Please don’t do this to me again. I’m in so much pain from last time. Please, no!”

The man simply grabbed her face, replaced her gag, and pulled down his pants. She cried out in pain when he forced himself into her. She tried to make her mind go elsewhere while he thrust in and out of her. She thought of her family and how worried they must be about her. She thought of her BAU team and how hard they must be working to find her. She knew that they would come to rescue her. They had to. Otherwise — well, she didn’t let her mind go there. Instead, she thought of how handsome Reid was, the cute way his hair flopped over his forehead. She thought about how he always beat her at chess but never gloated about it. She remembered how it felt when he had his arm around her and hugged her before the mission.

She was brought back to reality when the man’s hands clutched at her and he moaned obscenely, and she felt him ejaculate inside her. He pulled out of her and she felt nauseated when his semen began to trickle down her inner thighs.

Again, he showered her with praise and flattery, all about her being a great doll. She was repulsed.

He left the room for several minutes, during which she struggled to free her arms. However, the hook was too high; she could not get her arms high enough to get the rope off of it. When the man came back, he was carrying a strange device. It was a metal pole protruding up from the center of a flat, horizontal square of metal about three feet along each edge. To her horror, the top of the pole was shaped like a very large dildo, even bigger than the man’s sizable penis.

At the sight of the device, she struggled and protested, making unintelligible noises of protest and tugging on the ropes connecting her to the hook on the ceiling.

The man ignored her protests and began to set up the device. He lifted her up and settled the metal square on the floor beneath her, so that she was in the very center, legs on either side of the pole. The top of the pole currently only came up to her knees, but the man slowly adjusted its height, raising the dildo to her entrance. She cried and screamed and protested, but he held her hips still and raised the dildo further until it was seated entirely inside her, going a full, painful 10 inches into her canal. She was disgusted to find herself slightly grateful for the man’s semen in her, for it at least provided some lubrication. The man secured the pole so that it would stay at that height. He removed her gag, and then he did something especially surprising — he untied her wrists from the hook on the ceiling, and from each other.

Avery immediately tried to strike at the man with her freed hands, but he stepped back out of the way and she found that she could not move towards him, or away from him, for that matter. She could not move at all. Her weight secured the device’s flat base to the floor, and the pole went too far up into her for her to be able to get herself off of it. She could not bend her knees, so she was unable to jump. She tried to balance on one leg and lift the other one off of it, but it caused the dildo to dig into her at a very painful angle, and she had to stop. She attempted to bend down to reach the pole’s height controller, but that also caused the dildo to dig into her painfully. She tried to tilt the entire stand, but the base was too wide.

She struggled for several more minutes but found herself completely trapped. She was extremely frustrated at the illusion of freedom it gave her; neither her arms nor her legs were bound, and yet she was fully stuck in place.

She turned her furious glare upon the man and saw him gazing at her hungrily while obscenely rubbing his penis, which was rock hard again. At least this time he didn’t seem to want to touch her; he seemed content to just watch.

Horrified, she realized that the pole protruding from her entrance and secured to the floor probably made her look more like a doll than ever, like a doll on a display stand.

Suddenly, she flinched as her face, chest, and stomach were splattered with the man’s come. It was revolting and humiliating, but there was nothing she could do to get away.


	6. The End

The man masturbated and ejaculated on Avery several more times that day, while her feet and legs grew increasingly weary and sore from standing in place for hours in six-inch heels. She was honestly stunned at his resilience. She had never before met a man who could come so many times in one day. But then again, she thought wryly, she had never before met a man who was an insane serial killer with a doll fetish.

When he wasn’t masturbating, the man went about his business, moving in between the rooms of the cabin and sometimes going outside, leaving her stranded on the pole, surrounded by the five corpses. Avery tried to avoid looking at them. She begged the man to let her off the pole, but he refused. He didn't even let her off to go to the bathroom; to her utter revulsion, she had to piss down the pole and down her legs when she couldn’t hold it anymore.

When it was almost dusk, the man went outside again. Avery’s legs were starting to shake from fatigue, and she began to panic that they might give out and cause her to be excruciatingly impaled on the pole by the weight of her body, when she saw something that made her think she must be hallucinating from pain, exhaustion, and a likely concussion.

The front door opened partially, Reid’s head poked in through the opening, and he slipped quietly into the cabin. He was wearing his FBI bulletproof vest with a jacket over it, and his arms were extended out in front of him, crossed at the wrists, holding his gun and his flashlight steady. He gasped in horror as he saw the room.

“Spencer?” Avery asked wearily. If this was the real Reid, then she should have felt absolutely humiliated for him to see her this way — naked, bruised and bloodied, covered in semen and piss, and impaled on a pole. But she was fairly sure that she was just seeing things, and she was honestly too exhausted to care, anyway.

“Oh my god! Avery!” Reid cried softly, lowering his gun and running over to her with his jaw hanging open in shock. “Are you okay? I’m going to get you out of here!”

Reid took off his jacket and wrapped it around Avery to give her a semblance of modesty. He was so tall, and she was so petite, that came down almost to her knees.

“Spencer, is that really you?” Avery asked softly. “You can’t be real, can you?”

“Avery, yes, it’s me! I’m here to rescue you! Where is the man who did this to you?”

“Outside… went outside a while ago…”

“Okay, then we have to hurry. I don’t know when he’ll be back. How the hell does this thing work?” he asked, crouching down to look at the pole.

“Where’s… rest of team?” Avery asked.

“We all split up,” Reid answered, fiddling with the pole. “We were searching the woods. I don’t have any cell phone service here, so it’s just you and me for now.”

He figured out the controls to the pole and managed to lower it. Avery immediately collapsed, her legs finally giving out. Reid caught her mid-fall and cradled her to him.

“You and me…” she mumbled. “That sounds nice…”

Reid smiled slightly, picked her up, and carried her out of the cabin, praying that they would get away before the man came back.

Reid went as fast as he could, but carrying her slowed him down. They were almost to the edge of the woods when he heard Avery gasp and felt her fumble at his side. Before he could move, he heard an ear-splitting gunshot. He flinched and turned his head to see Avery’s arm extended behind him, holding his smoking gun. The gun was pointed at a man who, as he watched, dropped a knife that he had been carrying and then crumpled to the ground.

“Oh my god, Avery! Is that the man who did this to you?” Reid asked frantically.

Avery nodded and lowered the gun. Reid stared at the man’s form, which lay in the grass unmoving. “Good shot,” he said to Avery, breathlessly. 

Just then, the rest of the team and the police officers burst from the trees into the clearing, guns and flashlights drawn. They took in the sight of Reid holding Avery, Avery holding the gun, and the man’s lifeless form on the ground. They lowered their guns.

While the police officers examined the man, the BAU team ran up to Reid and Avery.

“Avery! You’re alive!” “Are you okay?!” “Are you hurt?” “We heard the gunshot and came as fast as we could!” “Great shot!” “I’m so glad you’re okay!” The team clamored over each other, so relieved to see her alive.

“Hey, hey, give her some space,” Gideon said, waving the rest of the team back.

“Avery,” he said to her quietly. “I am so sorry that we let this happen to you. I’m so glad you’re alive. We’ll get you right to the hospital. How badly are you hurt?” he asked, taking in her bruised and bloodied face, neck, and head.

“I’m okay, Gideon,” Avery responded, wearily. “Nothing life-threatening.”

An officer came up to them to let them know that the man was already dead by the time they got to his body. While the officers stayed behind to deal with the scene, the BAU team headed back through the woods toward the place where they parked the cars.

Morgan offered to carry Avery, but Reid declined the offer. “It’s okay, I’ve got her,” he said quietly, noting that she was already passed out on his shoulder. “I don’t want to wake her up. She needs to rest.”

By the time they got back to the cars, an ambulance was waiting to take Avery directly to the hospital. Reid handed her over to the paramedics but refused to leave her side. He rode in the ambulance with her, holding her hand, and waited while she was examined at the hospital. After she was set up in a hospital bed and ready for visitors, he stayed by her side and held her hand until she woke up.

The first thing Avery saw when she opened her eyes was Reid’s sweet, concerned face staring down at her. She smiled groggily. “Thank you, Spencer,” she whispered. He smiled back and squeezed her hand.


End file.
